Herman on Hitchens

[Bradford DeLong]

>Brad D.says:
>
>clip
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>(2) But Al Qaeda and the Taliban are now a problem in large part
>because of mistaken and misguided U.S. policies in the past, and
>because of the failures of modernization--democratization,
>industrialization, and secularization--in the Middle East.
>
>(3) More important, even, than drawing Al-Qaeda's fangs (and getting
>a better government than the Taliban for Afghanistan, even
>acknowledging the Hobbesian point that any government is better than
>no government) is winning the peace: putting the Middle East on a
>track so that more Al-Qaeda's won't be hatched in the future and that
>the processes we think of as modernization--democratization,
>industrialization, and secularization--will roll forward successfully.
>
>%%%%%%
>
>CB: I'm thinking that from what I know of your thinking, you would 
>have considered good U.S. policy the top priority given to stopping 
>communism in the region. Wasn't that the policy that gave rise to an 
>Al Qaeda and Taliban ? Do you really consider U.S. Cold War policy 
>mistaken and misguided ?

Well, back on September 13 I agreed with Luke's comment that "Soviet 
imperialism (and that's what it was) in Afghanistan was justified," 
observing that: "There are things much worse than really existing 
socialism of the Brezhnevite flavor. And we see them today."

Brad DeLong